Curing and Smoking Meat

From the pigs we processed this winter, we cured and smoked the hams, bacon, and most of the shoulders. They came out amazingly well. We gathered information from books and other farmers to devise a system that fit within our resource constraints.

Here is the smoker. A fire is built in the stove, and the smoke is vented out to where the meat is hanging.

 This bacon has been curing in the curing mixture. It was hung here so we can spray the salt off, so that it doesn't get overly salty.

The meat is hung in the smoker. The circle in the middle is where the smoke will come in.

Here is the smoker closed up.

Inside the smoker.

The final product, hanging in the house. We cut the bacon into usable sizes, and froze it.  This bacon was hands down the best bacon that most people surveyed had ever eaten.

Many a late night was devoted to grinding sausage. Here we have some smoked kielbasa- another amazing blessing from the pig.